Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Diabetes Department

The TCM Diabetes Department was established in 1998; its predecessors were the TCM Internal Medicine Department and the TCM Class-A Ward. Professor Yin Huihe, a Capital Famous TCM Physician; Professor Tong Xiaolin, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a Qihuang Scholar; Professor Xu Zhu, a renowned TCM expert; Professor Xu Yuan, Professor Yin Huihe’s academic successor and a renowned TCM expert; and Professor Li Ping, a Qihuang Scholar, among others, successively worked in our department. In 2018, the TCM Diabetes Department was merged into the Department of Endocrinology, namely Endocrinology Ward 2. Our department’s main specialties are the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and its acute and chronic complications, metabolic syndrome, and gynecological endocrinology; treatment emphasizes combining disease differentiation with syndrome differentiation, and importance is attached to the distinctive development of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

【Department Staffing】

There are currently 2 chief physicians, 5 associate chief physicians, and 2 attending physicians. Among them, 5 hold doctoral degrees and 3 hold master’s degrees. Professor Li Ping, a Qihuang Scholar and Capital Famous TCM Physician, serves as the academic leader; Chief Physicians Li Aiguo and Duan Jun serve as the physicians responsible for primary diagnosis and treatment.

Professor Li Ping, the academic leader, is a chief physician and doctoral supervisor. She has successively led and undertaken more than 30 national- and provincial/ministerial-level scientific research projects, including the National 973 Program, Ministry of Science and Technology international cooperation projects, national key scientific and technological projects, and Key Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation. As the first completing investigator, she received the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award and 12 awards at the provincial/ministerial level or above; she has been granted 5 national invention patents. She has published more than 300 academic papers in domestic and international journals, including more than 100 papers in SCI-indexed journals; she has written 13 academic books and served as chief editor of 6 academic books. In 2008, she led her team to be selected for the Key Research Laboratory for Clinical Efficacy Evaluation of Chronic Kidney Disease of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine; in 2009, she was selected for the National Key Clinical Discipline of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine; in 2014, she was selected for the Beijing Key Laboratory of Immune-Inflammatory Diseases. She has received the National Award for Achievements of Returned Overseas Students and the Outstanding Contribution Award for the Implementation Plan of the 11th Five-Year Plan; she has also received such honorary titles as Expert with Outstanding Contributions of the Ministry of Health, the First Outstanding Female TCM Physician, Outstanding Female Scientific and Technological Worker of Central Government Organs, Expert Receiving a Special Government Allowance from the State Council, and National March 8th Red-Banner Woman. She is a mentor for the 6th and 7th batches of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s mentor-apprentice inheritance program and a Qihuang Scholar under the National TCM Leading Talent Program.

【Outpatient and Ward Settings】

Specialty outpatient clinics are available for diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic gastroparesis, obesity, gynecological endocrinology, thyroid diseases, and other conditions. Appointments with renowned experts are available every Monday afternoon and Thursday afternoon; an international medical department outpatient clinic and a special-needs outpatient clinic are also available to meet patients’ different needs. There are 21 inpatient beds in total, all in three-bed rooms.

【Departmental Diagnostic and Treatment Features】

Our department was formerly the first key diabetes specialty of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Its main research direction is the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine prevention and treatment of “diabetes and complications.” It has established four subspecialty directions: chronic complications of diabetes, centered on the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis and treatment of diabetic nephropathy; obesity; gynecological endocrinology; and thyroid diseases.

① Diabetic nephropathy, a disease in which the department has particular expertise. On the basis of inheriting the clinical experience of traditional Chinese medicine in China in treating chronic kidney disease, and in combination with the results of modern medical research, the department has investigated and explored effective Chinese medicines for treating chronic kidney disease. It pioneered the method of supplementing qi and softening the liver, activating blood and unblocking the collaterals for treating diabetic nephropathy. Using internationally standardized evidence-based medicine methods, it confirmed that the method of “benefiting the kidneys and nourishing yin, resolving stasis and unblocking the collaterals” (Tangshen Formula) can reduce overt proteinuria in diabetic nephropathy and improve renal function; its efficacy is significantly superior to that of ACEI/ARB drugs used alone. The results of this clinical study were published in an international journal and represent, to date, one of the highest levels of evidence in this field for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy with traditional Chinese medicine. The relevant research findings were incorporated into the Diabetes Alliance guidelines of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The department pioneered the method of supplementing qi and soothing the liver, activating blood and dispelling dampness for treating proteinuria in chronic nephritis, and developed Chaihuang Yishen Granules, for which it obtained clinical-trial approval issued by the State Food and Drug Administration. It has led 24 national-level projects and 15 provincial/ministerial-level projects, as well as numerous other commissioned projects; cumulative research funding for related research has exceeded 40 million yuan. It has published more than 200 Chinese-language papers and more than 60 SCI papers. It compiled the monograph “Research Foundations and Clinical Applications of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in Diabetic Nephropathy,” which received the First Prize for Academic Works from the Chinese Association of Chinese Medicine. The related research achievements received 3 first prizes and 5 second prizes for science and technology at the provincial/ministerial level; in 2016, they received the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

② Obesity, a disease in which the department has particular expertise. Obesity is the root of many diseases and affects multiple systems of the body, especially in the case of abdominal obesity. Our department has consistently regarded obesity as a key disease requiring attention and as the top priority in diabetes prevention and treatment. It treats obesity according to deficiency-type and excess-type patterns. Over the past 2 years, leveraging the advantages of the hospital’s multidisciplinary weight-loss alliance platform, it has fully utilized the distinctive strengths of traditional Chinese medicine in obesity prevention and treatment. On the basis of pattern-based treatment according to “deficiency-type obesity” and “excess-type obesity,” it develops individualized traditional Chinese medicine treatment plans for obese patients; it uses multiple TCM treatment methods, including herbal decoctions, pills, auricular acupuncture, and acupuncture and moxibustion, to bring into play TCM’s comprehensive treatment characteristics of acting on multiple targets and producing multiple effects. In coordination with multiple disciplines, including the Nutrition Department’s health and nutritional dietary guidance and the Rehabilitation Department’s scientific exercise guidance, it creates a synergistic force to help patients better accept and adhere to weight-loss plans; it improves patients’ clinical discomfort symptoms, gradually improves their internal environment and constitution, and strengthens their own regulatory capacity, thereby achieving long-term consolidation of weight-loss results. Agreed-upon prescriptions for deficiency-type and excess-type obesity have now been established: Weight Loss No. 1 and Metabolic Syndrome No. 1. They have achieved good clinical efficacy, and further mechanistic research and the development of in-hospital preparations are being prepared.

③ Gynecological endocrinology, a disease area in which the department has particular expertise. The department combines modern medical examinations and laboratory testing with comprehensive traditional Chinese medicine treatment. It treats menstrual disorders, ovulatory disorders, and infertility caused by ovarian dysfunction, such as polycystic ovary syndrome, ovulatory disorders, and luteal-phase insufficiency; by hypothalamic, pituitary, and ovarian dysfunction, such as hyperprolactinemia; benign breast diseases related to ovarian endocrine function, such as mammary hyperplasia and breast masses; premenstrual and menstrual tension syndrome; menopausal syndrome; and diseases related to ovarian endocrine function, including ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, adenomyosis, and endometriosis.

④ Thyroid diseases. Thyroid diseases are now highly prevalent; among them, thyroid dysfunction, autoimmune thyroiditis, and thyroid nodules are particularly common. Causes of these diseases include heredity, stress, inflammation, infection, diet, drugs, toxins, and other factors. Addressing these multiple factors, traditional Chinese medicine treatment of thyroid diseases has distinctive advantages. Combining modern laboratory and examination methods and building on standardized Western medical diagnosis and treatment, our department uses integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine with treatment based on syndrome differentiation. This can reduce patients’ autoimmune responses, improve thyroid function, reduce the dosage of Western medicines, and result in the shrinkage of some nodules, while producing few adverse reactions. At the same time as improving patients’ laboratory and examination indicators, it significantly improves their quality of life and achieves good therapeutic efficacy. Our department has opened a specialty outpatient clinic for the traditional Chinese medicine treatment of thyroid diseases.

Departmental treatment philosophy: attach importance to preventing disease before it occurs; use individualized lifestyle guidance and traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation and treatment to improve the abnormal constitutions of patients with obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome and prevent the occurrence of diabetes. Once disease is present, prevent its progression: for patients who do not yet have diabetic complications, rationally use glucose-lowering, blood-pressure-lowering, lipid-regulating, blood-activating and stasis-resolving, and other medications, and control all indicators to target levels; combine these with Chinese medicine intervention to prevent and delay the occurrence of complications. For patients with diabetic complications, combine a series of traditional Chinese medicine internal and external therapies, including oral medicines, medicated baths, enemas, and so on, to delay the progression of complications; reduce systemic damage and improve patients’ quality of life. Alongside drug treatment, provide patients with health guidance concerning physical fitness and exercise, medicinal diets and dietary therapy, psychological adjustment, and lifestyle modification, enabling them to learn to adopt a healthy lifestyle and benefit from it throughout their lives.

【Departmental Teaching】

The department undertakes the “Professor Yin Huihe Famous and Senior TCM Physician Studio” project under the Beijing Municipal Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Beijing TCM Torch Inheritance “3+3” Project. It has successfully completed the academic inheritance mission of traditional Chinese medicine and received the “Beijing TCM Torch Inheritance Contribution Award.”

The department currently relies on the “Professor Li Ping Senior TCM Physician Academic Experience Inheritance Studio” and undertakes the mentor-apprentice academic experience inheritance program for the 7th batch of national senior TCM experts of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Beijing program for inheriting the academic experience of senior TCM experts through mentor-apprentice teaching, and the hospital-level mentor-apprentice program of China-Japan Friendship Hospital.

The department undertakes standardized training for TCM resident physicians in Beijing, and its personnel serve as examiners for the completion examination of Beijing standardized TCM residency training; it undertakes teaching and supervision of lectures, clinical internships, and observational placements at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine; it undertakes clinical internship and observational-placement supervision for doctoral and master’s students of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine; and it undertakes clinical teaching for the nursing program of Peking University Health Science Center, clinical teaching for international students, and clinical supervision of physicians undertaking further training.

【Location Within the Hospital】

The TCM Diabetes Department is located on the 1st floor of Building M. Outpatient telephone: 010-84206495

The inpatient ward of the TCM Diabetes Department is located on the 5th floor of Building L. Ward telephone: 010-84205048; nurses’ station telephone: 010-84205965